Roundup: Daesh turning from fiction to warring faction in Afghanistan

Reports on the infiltration of militants loyal to the Iraq and Syria-based extremist outfit of the so-called Islamic State (IS) simply known Daesh in Afghanistan have been turned into reality as some officials have confirmed Daesh activities in the war-battered country.

The second deputy to the Afghan government chief executive, according to media reports, confirmed that the warmongering Daesh has been recruiting fighters in the country even in the outskirts of capital Kabul.

Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq reportedly said recently that Daesh pays up to 1,000 U.S. dollars to its recruits per month, which poses a serious threat to Afghanistan.

It is almost half an year that local media began reporting Daesh penetration in Afghanistan and its fight with rival Taliban militants and government security forces.

However, the government has yet to confirm Daesh presence in the militancy-plagued country.

Daesh fighters, according to media reports, have challenged Taliban fighters at least in Farah, Nuristan and Nangarhar provinces.

Several Taliban fighters including their commanders, according to reports, have been killed in Achin and Nazian districts of Nangarhar province over the past couple of months, forcing Taliban fighters to retreat.

Daesh emergence and activities in Afghanistan have even prompted the Taliban outfit to react. The Taliban even sent a letter to Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi, the self-claimed caliph of the so- called Islamic State, last June, urging him to stay away from Afghanistan as there is no need to open new front alongside Taliban Mujahideen (holy warrior) in the conflict-ridden country.

It is reported that some of the Taliban commanders have changed their loyalty and made allegiance to the newly emerged warring faction Daesh which is more extreme than the Taliban group.

Meanwhile, General Dawlat Waziri, deputy spokesman of the Afghan defense ministry, has said that four out of 10 militants fighting in Afghanistan are foreigners mostly from Pakistan, Chechen, and Uzbek, including Arabs. Endi